Southeast Asian nations have told Myanmar’s military government its plan to hold an election amid an escalating civil war should not be its priority, urging it to start dialogue and end hostilities immediately.
The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) called on Myanmar to stop the fighting and told its representative to allow unhindered humanitarian access.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021 when its military overthrew the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering pro-democracy protests that morphed into a widening armed rebellion which has taken over swaths of the country.
Despite being battered on multiple fronts, its economy in tatters and dozens of political parties banned, the military government plans to hold an election this year, which critics have widely derided the election as a sham to keep the generals in power through proxies.
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